False Hope

Chapter 13: All's Well That Ends Well

Her heart had control over her body. It was not her intention to kiss him. But her heart was in control and she had placed her lips on his in a slight but sweet kiss before pulling back.

The look of shock and want in his eyes flashed and she sighed before stepping away, "Now you know, but I can't have you no matter how much I want you."

"Lily—"

But she was gone before he could say another word.

The next morning her body felt like she had run five miles. She was sore from head to toe and looking at the disarray of her bedding, it was obvious that she hadn't slept well last night.

She knew the soreness had been caused by the dancing, and she knew she hadn't slept well because she was too worried about what she had done. Where did it leave her? Where did it leave them? Tami? She didn't want to get out of bed. So, there she lay staring at the ceiling with one arm above her head and the other laying across her stomach, her shirt still unbuttoned to the point where her collarbone was exposed.

What was she supposed to do with her life? There was absolutely no meaning made known to her. She wanted something big to be a part of. What was it that drove people to live day after day after day? What would happen if she took her life?

It was then that she shot up in bed and held a hand over her mouth in shock. She had never thought like that before. Never had she ever dreamed to think like that. Suicide was so unnatural to her that it could've been skydiving for the first time off of Everest. It shouldn't have been surprising because of how she felt, but the fact that she was contemplating suicide made her both relieved and scared. Then she realized, if she had the courage to do it, she would do it.

She was saved from her thoughts by the sound of a strumming guitar. Across her room, her phone buzzed and vibrated on her bureau. Getting up, she ran a hand through her hair and walked across the room. She smiled when she saw who was calling.

"Lee... how ya been?"

"What's up Stranger?"

"Since when have you thought of me as strange?"

"That's not what I said!"

She chuckled at the man's sudden display of exasperation, "What do you need Lee?" There was the sound of a lighter being flipped open and she began to feel the irritation rising in her.

"What else could I possibly need whenever I call you besides an extra hand for a roundup?"

"How about to give you a reason to quit smoking?" the anger in her voice was relevant to the sound of him blowing out a puff. "I've told you and so have the doctors! No more! It's killing you!"

On the other end, she heard Lee let out a guilty sigh, "You know it helps me calm down Lily."

"If you don't want to be so on edge then why did you agree to the terms of those contracts in the first place?" Lee Hunzeker had been taking out contract leases for large pieces of land for years. The problem was that the pieces of land he leased weren't just the typical hundred-acre properties. It was over eleven hundred acre pastures that had been passed down from father to son for generations. Fences had to be put up less someone took the risk of letting one's cows mingle with others'. But fences couldn't last forever. And sometimes the terms of the contract involved building a new fence, but building a fence never had been an easy job. Especially if it consisted of thirty-two rolls of barbed wire. Some fences were three miles long. That was enough to break a man's back.